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School board approves FY 13 budget

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education unanimously approved the district’s budget for fiscal year 2013 during its Monday night meeting.

The board’s approval of the budget of $143,007,644 allows the district to put a budget request to the Kenai Peninsula Borough, KPBSD assistant superintendent Dave Jones said.

“We make the best predictions and assumptions we can make, so this is the FY 13 budget at this time,” Jones explained to the board.

Included in the budget are revenues of $140.5 million and expenditures of $143 million. To balance the budget, the district will use $2.481 million from the fund balance.

With the state Legislature still in session, it is uncertain how much money the district will receive at the state level, Jones said. He also said the district has requested an increase of $1.2 million from the borough which is calculated in to the budget at this time.

Board member Sammy Crawford said she was impressed with the work that went into creating the budget.

“We have spent a lot of hours working on this, and a lot of staff time certainly has gone in to this,” she said. “I feel like it’s really a fair (budget) and (protects) our class size, which has been a high priority of this board for so many years.”

Crawford said the budget, as presented Monday, allows the district to work within its means.

“It’s not a budget that has any fat,” she said. “It is lean and mean and we think it will provide a really great education for our children.”

Jones said the budget could still change, with negotiations ongoing between the district and the unions that represent its staff.

In other business:

The board awarded Lana Syverson, a teacher at Soldotna High School with the Golden Apple Award.

The board heard school reports from Kenai Middle School and Kenai Alternative High School.